GILBERTSON
Gilbertson is a surname whose roots lie in the patronymic tradition of the English Isles. It derives from the personal name Gilbert, which was introduced to England by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066 and was originally a French adaptation of the Old Germanic name Gisilbert.
The Old Germanic components of Gisilbert are gisil, meaning “pledge” or “hostage”, and berht, meaning “bright” or “famous”. Hence, the surname Gilbertson can be interpreted as “bright pledge” or “famous hostage”.
In England the name first appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 in the Latinised form Gislebertus. It is recorded as a hereditary surname by 1235 when a Robert Gylebert is mentioned in the Ancient Deeds of Norfolk. The patronymic suffix –“son” clearly indicates a descendant of a man called Gilbert.
During the Middle Ages the personal name Gilbert was extremely popular, in part because of the reputation of St. Gilbert of Sempringham (1086‑1189), the founder of the only fully native English monastic order. This widespread popularity helped the emergence of a number of surname variants, among which Gilbertson is one of the most common.
Historical records show that the surname was well established in England by the late fourteenth century. The earliest attested spelling belonging to an individual family member is that of Nicholas Gilbertson, dated 1379 in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Returns, conducted during the reign of King Richard the First (Richard of Bordeaux) 1377‑1399.
Records further illustrate the surname’s persistence into later centuries. A marriage between Anthony Gilbertson and Mary William was solemnised at St. Bride’s, Fleet Street, London on 28 November 1596. In another example, Isabelle Gilbertson married Solomon Ferguson at St. Thomas’s, Elgin, Ontario on 21 March 1887, indicating the outward movement of bearers of the name beyond the British Isles.
Throughout its history, the Gilbertson surname has maintained a distinctly Christian Christian association, with the majority of early holders being adherents of the Church of England, reflecting the religious landscape of medieval and early modern England. Its continued use into the present day reflects the endurance of patronymic naming conventions within the English linguistic and cultural tradition.
Typical given names associated with the Gilbertson surname
Male
- Alan
- Andrew
- David
- Ian
- James
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Richard
- Robert
Female
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Helen
- Jean
- Karen
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- Pauline
- Penelope
- Sarah
- Susan
- Suzanne
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Gilbertson in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
There are approximately 1,567 people named Gilbertson in the UK. That makes it roughly the 5,175th most common surname in Britain. Around 24 in a million people in Britain are named Gilbertson.
Surname type: From name of parent
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Gilbertson
- Paul Gilbertson - Musician
- Michael Gilbertson - Archdeacon
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.